This local food bank flipped the script, finding a way to expand reach during COVID-19
You almost have to see it to believe it.
At a time when so many local charities and nonprofits are struggling mightily, the transformation that has occurred at the Bonney Lake Food over the last year and a half would defy reason and logic — if it wasn’t happening in plain sight.
In May 2019, I first traveled to the Bonney Lake Food Bank. It’s not far from Lake Tapps, crammed into a nondescript strip mall between a deli and a day spa.
As I detailed, the situation was dire. Donations were down. Need was skyrocketing. The building itself was falling apart, maxed to capacity with volunteers working in imperfect surroundings to make sure area residents in need didn’t go hungry.
There was legitimate fear that the food bank wouldn’t survive. After more than a decade serving the growing rural and suburban East Pierce County community, the shoestring operation was on the ropes.
That’s what makes the transformation now well under way at the food bank — which was visible late last week, as uniformed members of the National Guard helped to move pallets of food to a brand-new location — so unbelievable.
In a matter of 18 months, the script has been flipped in Bonney Lake.
While challenges remain, the food bank’s fortunes are pointing up, according to new executive director Stacey Crnich, starting with a new location that will more than triple the amount of usable space.
Beginning Dec. 1, the new-look and re-branded Bonney Lake Food Bank — which will be known as The Market — plans to open inside a renovated farmhouse at 24015 State Route 410, complete with ample freezer and storage space, Crnich said Thursday.
It’s all part of a much larger objective, she explained, designed to create a financially sustainable resource that provides food security and dignity to the increasing number of Bonney Lake-area and Pierce County residents who deserve it.
Eventually, Crnich envisions a full-service food bank that operates like a grocery store, along with amenities like a community market, a farm and a social services hub that will help to ensure its financial feasibility long into the future.
“We took one bold, brave move … and just said, ‘We’re going to make it happen,’” Crnich explained of the move, which required months of planning and an outpouring of community support.
“We’ve all done this,” Crnich continued, gesturing around her as the food bank’s small staff and volunteer board members worked to ready the new site.
“It’s tremendous risk taking to believe that we can do better by human beings in our community, and that there’s got to be a better way to do this.”
After being hired in February, Crnich — a 44-year-old Bonney Lake resident with a background in retail and corporate finance at Nordstrom — took stock, then quickly began putting the people and plans in place to reimagine what the food bank could be.
She knew there was energy to harness, she said, as evidenced by the financial contributions and thousands of pounds of food that poured in during the previous holiday season.
Crnich also knew there was significant work to do. The location she inherited was small and rundown, while the nonprofit’s long-term fiscal outlook was tenuous, at best.
Then COVID-19 hit, only amplifying the stakes.
The pandemic created an influx of families in need and required a new approach to managing volunteers and distribution, Crnich said.
The food bank saw the number of families it was serving jump from 150 a week to more than 1,000, Crnich said. Today, the food bank operates largely through a drive-thru and home distribution model, which will be the plan going forward until it’s safe to open in-person again, she said.
A resident of the area for nearly two decades, Crnich said she’s been shocked by how many people have come to depend on the food bank.
“The people that are suffering right now have never had to use resources before,” Crnich said.
Part of the reason the Bonney Lake Food Bank has been able to weather the storm — and expand amid a crisis — is because of the COVID-19 related aid that’s been available.
Most importantly, members of the National Guard were dispatched to the food bank early on in the pandemic, Crnich explained.
Last week the service members helped with the move, but before that they also helped with packaging, distribution and logistics, she said.
Joseph Siemandel, a spokesperson for the Washington National Guard, noted nearly 1000 Guard members have worked with more than 60 food banks across the state since the outset of the pandemic.
Siemandel said helping distribute food to those in need is a natural fit for the National Guard.
Guard members were sent to Bonney Lake after the food bank applied for help through the county and the state Emergency Operations Center, Siemandel said. At times, that has meant as many as eight National Guard members have been stationed in Bonney Lake to help.
Siemandel said it’s unclear how long National Guard members would continue to assist with food bank operations, but there’s no doubt that it has helped.
“I think we all understand the importance of the mission, and we all understand that it’s critical,” Siemandel said.
Financially, the food bank’s growth has been assisted by COVID-19 related funding, Crnich said.
Largely, money to operate and expand the food bank has come through roughly $350,000 in grants and a Paycheck Protection Program loan, she explained.
The influx in funding has paid for additional full-time staff and helped to finance the food bank’s move, Crnich said, indicating that the food bank’s budget has gone from $6,000 a month back in January to $37,000 a month today.
That’s important, considering the food bank now distributes more than 10 times as much food every month as when she started, Crnich said.
It’s momentum Crnich hopes to build on.
While she is keenly aware of the obstacles ahead — like filling the void that will be left when the National Guard eventually leaves and finding new ways to raise money when COVID-19 related funding dries up — Crnich remains confident in the resolve of her community.
“This is a comeback story. This is something that people wanted to see happen,” Crnich explained of the Bonney Lake Food Bank’s transformation.
“We have a good story. There are a lot of good people involved in this.”
